Is your browser behaving strangely of late? If the answer is yes, then you have likely been infected by a spyware or an adware program. Most of these programs are simply Browser Helper Objects or BHOs that run automatically every time the browser is clicked. These small program snippets help to track the web sites visited and send this data back to the web site owners. This might seem to be a good thing, but when you consider that these programs also collect personal information and sell it to online vendors or use for other malicious activities, then you will want to protect yourself. One way to do this is to use a spyware scanner to remove all these code snippets from your browser and the computer. But how do you know if you have been infected in the first place?
Identity theft protection is something we should all have because we all get emails that want to steal our secret codes and passwords. You know the ones that have subject lines like: “Your Account Is About To Be Closed,” “There’s A Block On Your Account,” “Could You Help Me Claim My Funds,” or my all-time favorite “Congratulations – You’ve Won The UK Lottery.” All of these and many others are phishing for identity theft information to get at your money and bank accounts.
First and most important, DON’T FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE EMAIL! If you think there might be a problem, access your account in question as you usually do on your PC and not with the link supplied in the phony email. Some email clients will show the url when you hover over the link so check it and be sure of where the link is going to send you.
I’ve had some very authentic looking email supposedly from banks, that even went so far as to copy the colors of the bank logo and stationery style. But, don’t fall for the scam. In fact, don’t even open the email, because many are just set to loose a virus program on your computer by being opened. Simply forward the suspicious email to the “spoof email” address supplied by your bank, or credit card company.